Cyber attack hits 200000 in at least 150 countries - Europol

Lucky break slows cyberattack; what's coming could be worse

Eleena Tovar
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20 May, 2017, 11:51

In the wake of the attack, Microsoftsaid it had taken the "highly unusual step" of releasing a patch for computers running older operating systems including Windows XP, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2003.

The problems caused by the cyber attack also became a General Election issue over the weekend, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats blaming the crisis on the government's failure to upgrade hospital systems.

According to reports, the malware can be traced back to a flaw in the USA's National Security Agency.

USA and European officials scrambled to catch the culprits behind a massive ransomware worm that caused damage across the globe over the weekend, stopping vehicle factories, hospitals, shops and schools, as Microsoft pinned blame on governments for not disclosing more software vulnerabilities.

"An equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the United States military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen".

Internet security professionals fear new versions of the worm dubbed "WannaCry". "We haven't fully dodged this bullet at all until we're patched against the vulnerability itself".

The attack involved a malware called Wanna Decryptor, which encrypts files on a user's computer, blocking them from view and demanding a payment to release them.

Wainwright said the agency is analyzing the virus and has yet to identify who is responsible for the attack.

He said Russian Federation and India were hit particularly hard, largely because Microsoft's Windows XP - one of the operating systems most at risk - was still widely used there.

"The numbers are still going up", Wainwright said.

"We need to quickly establish what went wrong to prevent this happening again, and questions must also asked about whether inadequate investment in NHS information systems has left it vulnerable to such an attack".

Chinese media reported that more than 29,000 institutions in the country had been hit, with universities and other educational entities the hardest hit, along with railway services and retailers. Staff were reportedly told to turn off their computers. Many may click infected email attachments or bad links and spread the virus further.

It was reported that surgeries were sent a bulletin on Sunday advising them what to do if they discover their computers have been hacked and how to get support from NHS Digital and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is handling the response. No details were disclosed.

The Prime Minister has insisted that patient data has not been compromised by the attack, though it may be too early to prove that is the case.

"The number of victims appears not to have gone up and so far the situation seems stable in Europe, which is a success", senior spokesman for Europol, Jan Op Gen Oorth told AFP. The statement said antivirus systems are working to destroy it.

These viruses not only slow down the speed of the computer but also harm files. The other is to disable a type of software that connects computers to printers and faxes, which the virus exploits, O'Leary added.

The biggest cyberattack the world has ever seen is still claiming victims and threatens to create even more havoc on Monday when people return to work.

"They have been working I know through the night nearly to make sure patches are in place to make sure that hopefully the NHS services can get back to normal", he told BBC radio. "But there are so many things to patch".